Ever wonder how our teens can rank below nations like Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Poland in financial literacy?
It turns out that only 17 states have mandatory personal finance teaching requirements. Sounds lackluster at best, right?
Making matters even worse is what a study from the National Endowment for Financial Education found:
So the majority of teachers who are passing on vital personal finance knowledge to our children aren’t overly sure about how money works themselves.
Money Prodigy was founded by Amanda L. Grossman in order to close this money education gap, one kid at a time.
By engaging kids in experiential + immersive money activities, Amanda creates safe learning spaces where kids can make life-learning money mistakes when the mortgage payment doesn’t depend on them getting it right.
The Mt. Everest Money Simulation represents her first outreach project to help in achieving this mission. Through funding from The Plutus Foundation, Amanda was able to create this program and will now be delivering it to students.
This epic program plunges 8-13 year old students into a simulated financial goal of one man, Erik, who dreams of summiting Mt. Everest. By engaging students in the personal finance situations and decision-making needs wrapped up in this fictitious man’s dream, the Mt. Everest Money Simulation breathes life into the complexities of personal finance.
During each live simulation, kids will:
The lessons learned through this live simulation will equip kids with the skills needed to not only set their own savings goals throughout life, but to know how to actually reach them from a financial standpoint (despite money setbacks, problems that seem to snowball out of control, and basic realities that all adults face when trying to achieve something).
Because it is an almost-insurmountable mountain to summit. And even if the average person had the strength and endurance to do so, the money that it costs − $65,000 is a typical estimate − puts it far out of reach for almost everyone.
Everyone, except those who know the secret to realizing their dreams: craft a realistic savings plan, and have the gusto to see it through.
The Mt. Everest Money Simulation engages students in financial decisions, plus dealing with any outcomes from those decisions, to show them from a young age that anything − including summiting Mt. Everest − is possible with the right money knowledge.
Through experiential financial outreach programs such as the Mt. Everest Money Simulation, Money Prodigy seeks to change the money lives of 36,715, 8-13 year old kids.
With the current US population growth rate, if Money Prodigy changes the money futures of 36,715 kids today by offering meaningful, experiential financial literacy programs, then that means by 2100, the money lives of 100,001 people will have been touched.
Compound interest is awesome. But compound impact? Now that’s a game-changer.
Amanda L. Grossman is a 10-year Personal Finance blogger at the Houston Chronicle and her site, Frugal Confessions. Amanda is the founder of Money Prodigy.
She’s also a Certified Financial Education Instructor through the NFEC (National Financial Educators Council), and a Plutus Grant Recipient to create my signature kid money program, the Mt. Everest Money Simulation: A Kid’s Educational Adventure.
